Billy Liar (1963)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Just perfect...

How sad is this?

Good concept, poorly executed.

At number 76 on the BFI's Top 100, this Criterion DVD is a gem with commentary by three then-living members of the original project: John Schlesinger, Tom Courtenay, and Julie Christie. Set in an industrial North-of-London location, it easily fits among the Kitchen Sink Realism films. In the DVD commentary, Courtenay says that, when released, the film was loved by the Italians and generally ignored by Americans as being an English black-and-white version of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. The similarity of the daydreaming-hero-of-his-own-imagination is an understandable connection between the two stories. However, this is a far superior as a film—and it is even better than James Thurber's short story--especially if you are able to understand the inside-jokes of the British humor, which we Americans surely didn't.If, like me, you have only seen Tom Courtenay as the stoically determined and grime juvenile delinquent of Tony Richardson's The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, you will be pleasantly surprised by his wacky humorous side here. Also, even though Julie Christie only makes a brief appearance in this film, it may have represented a breakthrough role for the very successful career that she was to have, including three more joint ventures with John Schlesinger. The title character, Billy Fisher (Tom Courtenay), lives with his parents (Wilfred Pickles and Mona Washbourne) and grandmother (Ethel Griffies) in a boring North England town. He works as a low-level clerk at a funeral home and dreams of being a scriptwriter for a London radio comedian. Thinking that a polite form letter meant that he is hired as the scriptwriter, he is ready to quit his job and strike out on his own in London. However, before leaving, he has a few things to take care of. He has to break up with BOTH of his fiancées—the no nonsense blond, Rita (Gwendolyn Watts), and the sweet and trusting brunet, Barbara (Helen Fraser). Also, he has to explain to his boss why he 'forgot' to send out the funeral parlor's annual calendars as well as what he did with the postage money that he was given to send them out. Billy has a wild imagination and constantly daydreams about being the great leader, hero, inventor, business magnate…or whatever…of his imagined country of Ambrosia, a country where heroes are always losing their right limbs for some reason (?). BUT, in his real life, his job is a bore, his family is a drag, his friends know he is a liar and as he says to Barbara, 'You know I TEND to ex-a-ggerate a bit ..at times' (as he describes their future idyllic life together---with little Billy and little Barbara). One of the many black humor moments of the film is the scene in which he takes Barbara on a quiet date to the cemetery where the two walk around and read the tombstones. He seems to be stuck, dreaming away his boring life, until a Liz (Julie Christie) comes bouncing into town and into his life. Her answers to his dilemmas seem surprisingly simple: 'Billy, if you want to go to London, GO to London.' When Billy asks her if she would like to be his fiancée, she says, 'No, I want to be your wife.' But, before Billy can go anywhere or do anything, he has to overcome his lifelong habits and inertia and make some sort of REAL move? This film wonderfully weaves back and forth between Billy's vivid comical daydreams and his equally comical real life. Both are full of fun, imaginative creation, and roaring entertainment.

Billy Liar is a very unique character study that is already in your face at the very start of the film. As Billy called downstairs to eat, he can't help lying in bed for a few minutes longer to fantasize about him being in an era of war, missing an arm and being a war hero.His distracted personality keeps him unorganized and lazy when it comes to work. Billy has failed to post calendars and we see them all shoved into a cabinet in his room, revealing he never intended to do something that was essential for his job. He lives with his family though he has a job that is above the lower-working class: he works at a funeral parlor.Billy has a dream to become a script-writer for a famous comedian, and he talks about it as if it was a certainty that he would get the job, though when he calls their office the secretary explains the man was not expecting a call from Billy, but Billy plays it off while people are listening that this comedian is eagerly awaiting him. Thus we see he cannot face the reality of the situation, and this amongst many other lies earns him his titular label: Billy Liar.Billy also doesn't know what he wants in a relationship, so he lies to two different girls he is dating that each are the only one in his life, and from what the girls say it sounds like he is engaged to both of them. Billy has to hide behind his lies because he simply doesn't know how to interact with other people.His constant daydreaming is the highlight of the film, hitting home the fact that he is living in his own fantasy world while he can't face the reality of his disappointing life. He lies to his family and friends, but when those lies are spread in public Billy can't take it and becomes embarrassed. This is a very good film both about fantasy and realism and they affect the central character.3.5/4.0

For a long time, I've been curious about seeing this British comedy/drama starring Tom Courtenay and, in one of her earliest roles, Julie Christie since I read that a short-lived TV series starring Steve Guttenberg called "Billy" from the late '70s was loosely based on this. In this movie, directed by John Schlesinger, Courtenay is Billy Fisher who has an overactive imagination whenever things bother him which seems to be nearly all the time what with the demands he gets from his parents and grandmother, his doing unethical things at his undertaker job and getting caught, and his getting engaged to two very different women. There is, however, one other woman he likes and her name is Liz played by Ms. Christie in what seemed a big break for her especially considering how Schlesinger has her photographed in her initial scenes. And how she just oozes charm every time she talks! Anyway, there's plenty of hilarious scenes concerning Billy's dreams but also much sadness with the way things turn out as the film goes on. I probably need to see this again to really get all the scenes not to mention the fast-talking dialogue here especially with all the British terms sprinkled throughout. Still, I highly recommend Billy Liar especially those interested in the early career of one Julie Christie.

A nice film - well remembered from seeing it in the cinema in1963!!!!!! Seeing it now, it is a powerful evocation of UK on the cusp of the sixties - it really shows the provinces in the fifties with middle aged women looking 60 plus, the drabness of the surroundings, the conformity and authoritarianism of people, how life was much simpler, and the narrowness of employment. That still works, with Julie Christie the symbol of the swinging sixties with looser morals and roots to shake up British society! The acting is a little familiar (for those who can remember TV and films at that time) but good, with Tom Courtenay impressive especially at the end as he struggles to match leaving and staying at home, and living for himself. But now the film looks overdone in the fantasy elements - very realistic with a ton of extras but it really does not work properly in black and white and without the background of the time and place viz Walter Mitty characters and their fantasies. Still very interesting but spoilt and ultimately a disappointment